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Stefano HatfieldiNews |
At school this week, I set a standard creative writing challenge. It was a “show, don’t tell” descriptive writing exercise. My year 10s (14- to...
The definition of chutzpah is “extreme self-confidence or audacity”. Helpfully, dictionaries often include an exemplar alongside definitions to...
Since becoming an English teacher and no longer working late evenings as an editor, I’ve been able to reconnect with my great love of live...
The venerable 195-year-old Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race constitutes an unlikely addition to Broken Britain’s 2024 list of shame. I am not highlighting...
I have “the 100-day cough”. I’m hoping the “100-day” bit is a media construct and it won’t last that long, but the cough bit has persisted...
The actor Derek Thompson’s departure from the BBC soap Casualty this weekend was truly shocking. Not because his character, Charlie Fairhead, diced...
Since January, I’ve been hobbling around – despite orthotics, lifts and trendy, cushioned Hoka trainers – suffering from Achilles tendonitis....
When Benjamin Franklin remarked that, “in this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes”, the great American statesman...
In words not often written: I shed a little tear this week at a message from someone wishing to connect with me on LinkedIn. Laura, the daughter of a...
Have you ever been made redundant? Or made anyone redundant? The chances are that you will not have given or received notice mid-way through a task...
Poor Gregg Wallace: three words not often written in sequence. They are oxymoronic, not only because the Masterchef judge has been a well-remunerated...
How many of you know a SCITT from a PGCE, an NQT from an ECT, a TA from someone with QTS? Unless you work in education, few readers will know these...
It’s been the driest of Januaries for struggling pubs, according to reports today. As I come to the end of my 29th year of not drinking alcohol in...
Katharine Birbalsingh, self-styled “strictest head teacher in Britain”, is one of the great polarisers in British society. It is almost impossible...
Why has the brilliant ITV series Mr Bates vs The Post Office struck such a deep nerve? It is ITV’s most-watched drama in a decade but this isn’t...
In one short week, the controversial former footballer and manager, Joey Barton, has gone from ranting against female pundits to placing football at...
I was going to rage against the corrupt and corrosive honours system that allows the bumbling likes of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss to hand out baubles...
A year ago, my 91-year-old Ma died after a terrible weekend ina south London hospital. This is not the place to explore that horrendous last 72 hours...
If you do not recognise the name Rebecca Welch, then by this weekend it should be impossible not to know who she is. Welch will become the first...
My teacher friend, a Grimsby Town supporter, was incandescent. For the second time in a year his hometown club was in the news. Back in January, it...
The question that did not bode well for the article that my Year 7 pupil was proposing for the school magazine: “Sir, can I write an article about...
At a certain point in almost any football match, one of the obligatory away-fan chants will resound around the stadium: “This is a shithole, I want...
“Don’t grow up, it’s a trap!” We all know those birthday cards that make light of the weighty new responsibilities that come with leaving...
Lost among all the distressing news headlines over the past week was a positive story: Booths, the supermarket chain described as the “northern...
I took part in arguably the world’s politest protest this weekend. In the 18th minute of Fulham’s match against Manchester United, Fulham fans...
We all know a few bamboccioni, don’t we? That’s the Italian word for “big babies”: men, and it’s almost always men, who still live in the...
Last week, I wrote about how my experiences of kibbutz life shaped my views on the seemingly intractable Israel-Gaza crisis. This week, I received...
On my first day volunteering in an Israeli kibbutz as a callow youth, I was instructed to clean out the graveyard. Toiling in the Middle Eastern heat,...
I can’t believe I’m writing this, but my friend Trevor is now an astronaut. Mr Beattie, the dictionary definition of an ebullient, working-class...
My favourite local restaurant closed last week. Saigon Saigon had been serving upscale Vietnamese food to the residents of West London’s Hammersmith...
As the father of two Gen Z daughters, I read the headlines about Alex Mahon’s comments on the generation’s alleged lack of preparedness for the...
I spent an afternoon with some very angry Welsh people recently. They weren’t complaining about their rugby team’s laboured performance against...
This past week of sweltering summer temperatures brought with it an unfortunate by-product. We Brits are unable to dress for warm weather in order to...